To celebrate the release of her debut album Goldenheart, Dawn Richard stopped by Rap-Up’s studio to kick off our new performance series, Rap-Up Sessions. While overlooking the famed Sunset Strip and the Hollywood sign, the Danity Kane alum and her production partner Druski performed an exclusive three-song set including her single “’86,” “Warfaire,” and the title track “Goldenheart,” which is Dawn’s favorite song on the album.

“It’s the most personal and I recorded it a long time ago,” she said. “It was one of the first times I had gone through something so horrible that I didn’t think I would be able to come back from it. I felt like I wanted to write about a record where we were naive enough to believe we could be saved by a shining prince. It was so naive, but we felt that it was real.”

Watch the rest of Dawn’s stripped-down set below. Goldenheart is now available in stores and on iTunes.